SAN DIEGO — On the best days, loyal fans say, it is possible to hear the thundering organ three miles away. Weighing nearly 100,000 pounds with more than 4,500 pipes, the organ is nearly the largest in the world.
Devotees here puff up with pride at the unique features of the organ, which will turn 97 on New Year’s Eve. But perhaps nothing makes them prouder than the fact that their city is the only one left in America still paying for a civic organist. So this year, the birthday celebration comes with a huge sigh of relief.
Facing serious budget deficits, San Diego officials considered eliminating the job, which had been on the city payroll for nearly a century. The city chips in about $30,000 toward the $56,000 salary of the organist, who plays free concerts each Sunday afternoon in Balboa Park, the sprawling space in the center of the city.
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Of the $250,000 budget to put on the Sunday concerts and a Monday night series in the summer, the Spreckels Organ Society, named for the sugar heir who gave the organ to the city as a gift before the Panama-California Exposition in 1915, collects about $30,000 from members and $42,000 from the city. It raises the rest through grants and other outside donations.
Ross Porter, the administrator of the society, said he had not been surprised to be challenged this year, when “every penny is getting turned over twice.” But he was also not surprised when hundreds of supporters sent letters to the City Council and the local newspapers, saying the money was hardly different from the city’s subsidizing sports venues and development projects. …
In the end, Ms. Williams’s contract was renewed for 10 years, and the society raised more money than it had in some time…..
Yay! Good news for the Spreckels organ, the park, and the community!
